May 8th Drivers' School Observations
Yesterday's drivers' school was generally as great as I've come to expect from the National Capital Chapter. I credit Doug, Bill, Adil, the corner workers and, of course, the instructors for another job well done. That said, I did have a few nits to pick, some of which I remembered to put on my eval form and some of them I didn't...
(These were pulled out of another thread, for the sake of keeping that thread on-topic and positive.)
- In B-group, there wasn't any free time (even with "Free" sessions) before lunch (especially if you were an odd number) -- this meant that there wasn't any opportunity to make much-needed post-track adjustments to the car, or even to relax. I understand that the early calls to grid-up reflected the need to keep on schedule (and this school seemed more on-schedule than most), but this seemed a little ridiculous.
I had upped my pressure to 42psi all the way around prior to tech inspection (on the track, I normally run 40-43psi in my AVS ES100's), but after the first lapping session, my front passenger wheel was under-pressure and my rears were equally over-inflated & I didn't get time to do a more than cursory check after dropping a wheel off the apron on track-out in 7. (Mind you, I did get a chance at lunch, but that was after two track sessions and time on the skidpad -- all with an overly loose rear and a soft outside front.),
- The drivers' meeting seemed a bit too 'loose' -- maybe I just got used to Miriam's gestapo methodology (I kid, I kid), but assuming that the first DS usually has the highest number of new drivers of the season, the sometimes vague instructions and the lack of any demonstration flags struck me as odd, (if need be, I'll chip-in part of the cost for a set of dedicated demo flags)
- I was also shocked by the extremely laid-back on-site tech inspection -- they never opened my hood, performed a straight-line brake test, looked inside the passenger cabin, asked if I'd checked the torque on my lugs, or even checked or wrote a single thing on my tech sheet (including a signature). All they did was look at my helmet, look in the trunk and stick a blue dot on the windshield.
Now I know that the onus lies heavily on the student and the outside mechanic to ensure that the car is safe to drive in an "enthusiastic" manner, but I'd hate to think of what could happen to the future of the NCC BMWCCA drivers' school program -- one of the best marque club programs in the U.S. -- if somebody was hurt because of something that would normally have been caught in a trackside tech inspection,
- Pocket-size schedules were sorely missed, as were the neck lanyards and long-sleeve t-shirts (not absolute necessities, but nice nonetheless);
- The aforementioned dry skidpad -- I was the third car in my group on the skidpad and it was already halfway dry. In fact the 'wet' section was still dry enough that I flat-spotted my rear tires. (I know this is more due to BSR's policies and the nice sunny, cloudless day, so I'm not sure what can be done to prevent similar situations in the future.)
Like I said, that handful of gripes are the only complaints about an otherwise extremely well-done drivers' school, and I only raise them because I failed to put all of them on the eval form. If anyone disagrees with my opinion -- and that's really what this is -- feel free to speak up; I'm not looking to start an argument or ruffle feathers, just to keep the consistently high-quality drivers' schools on-track, so to speak.
Just to clarify and temper my gripes
I'll admit that my complaint about time is really a hard one to address -- it's not feasible to run four groups (which would cut down the time it takes to grid-up, but at the same time, it would shorten the overall track time for each student) -- I know that BSR's neighbors are constantly complaining about any instance where there's cars on the circuits after 4:59pm (with the exception of 12 hours at the Point).
People will gripe if you make them grid up early and then wait too long in the grid; people will gripe if you give them only 3 minutes' warning to grid. Honestly, points #1 and #4 are by far the least of my concern.
Much more important to me are the safety-related points -- the slightly disorganized drivers meeting (which got almost all of the critical points across, just not as clearly as some meetings in the past), the cursory tech line (and lack of signatures) and the dry skidpad (which, again, is more a BSR issue than an NCC issue).
BTW, honestly, if need be, I'll chip in $40 of the $100 cost for a set of track flags, if the chapter needs a dedicated classroom set. Raf/Steven/Bill -- just shoot me a PM telling me how to donate the $$.
As for the tech line gripe -- it would almost be better to have no tech at all than the cursory check from Sunday (that way no one could blame the NCC for missing something). I don't expect the tech line to diagnose a failed motor mount or a bad cv joint, but it is there to remind us of the little things we might forget in a rush: shop rags left in the engine compartment, clean windshield, floor mats, loose lugs, junk in the trunk, etc. In the early morning rush to get to the track and into the tech line, less-experienced and even more-experienced student can be forgetful about these little things. I just want to make sure that someone's simple oversight doesn't lead to an on-track incident that could restrict the Chapter's ability to run such superb drivers' schools.
Overall, Sunday was an extremely well-run, informative and fun school -- and for that I thank Bill, Doug, Steve, Adil, the corner workers and the instructors for their time, enthusiasm and effort.
Corner workers over rule Your Instructor
Follow the corner workers instructions as opposed to your instructor. Corner workers should have a better idea of the track conditions vice your instructor.
Better save than sorry or black flagged. The instructors were wrong to over rule the corner workers
